The former US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
